Study Desk

So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.

The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.

The midwives answered Pharaoh, "The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife arrives."

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father's flock.

"An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds," they replied. "He even drew water for us and watered the flock."

Then Moses asked God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is His name?' What should I tell them?"

"This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers-the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob-has appeared to you."

And the LORD said, "If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second.

But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground."

Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, "Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt and see if they are still alive." "Go in peace," Jethro replied.

and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.

After that, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Let My people go, so that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.'"

"You shall no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. They must go and gather their own straw.

But require of them the same quota of bricks as before; do not reduce it. For they are lazy; that is why they are crying out, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.'

Make the work harder on the men so they will be occupied and pay no attention to these lies."

When they left Pharaoh, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who stood waiting to meet them.

Moses relayed this message to the Israelites, but on account of their broken spirit and cruel bondage, they did not listen to him.

Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.